Mushi-Shi
by Taylor Hatake
Summary: 蟲師 [むしし] Neither good nor evil. They are life in its purest form. Vulgar and strange, they have inspired fear in humans since the dawn of time and have, over the ages, came to be known as "Mushi"


**A/N**: Man, it has taken me forever to write a fanfic for "Mushishi". And finally, I have began something for it. Well, I hope you enjoy!**  
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**Disclaimer**: I don't own Mushi-Shi, but I do own the OCs. Amaterasu and any random Mushi that isn't in the anime/manga are mine. Amaterasu is based on my Naruto/Last Survivors OC, Taylor Hatake, minus the messy hair and take out her left eye. Yeah. I use my own name a bit too much so I've giving my name a break for once lol.

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**Mushishi **• **蟲師**

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1.

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Ginko stopped at a village to find shelter from the oncoming storm. He glanced around, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth to exhale the smoke. He tapped it lightly and put it back in his mouth. Suddenly, his attention turned to a girl with the same white hair as his and the same unearthly blue eye. She wore a similar black trenchcoat to his own, but underneath she wore an indigo turtleneck and a pair of blue jeans. Wrapped around her neck was a red scarf and on the chain she wore around her neck was a pentacle encircled with a crescent moon with a celtic design in it. Keeping her hands warm was a pair of fingerless, indigo, metal plated gloves. Her white hair was tied back with a teal hair tie and she had loose strands of hair bordering her round face. In her small hands, she held a crimson violin and a matching bow. Given a moment, she immediately started to play a soft, soothing song from her heart. Ginko listened closely, especially when she began to sing. Her voice was reverberated with soft, sweet, sober overtones. There were no Yasabis nearby, so he assumed it was her natural voice, not influenced by mushi, even though he knew that it was nearly impossible that her voice sounded like that. It was not impossible, but it wasn't probable either. But, the question did stroll through his mind as to why her hair and eyes were the same colors as his. Could she have been — _No_, Ginko thought. _She couldn't have been, she looks too young to have gone there, especially if she's on her own._

He put his cigarette out and walked up to the young lady. She finished the song she was playing and sighed softly.

"Excuse me miss," Ginko said. "Do you happen to know of a place where I could stay?"

The young girl looked up and her bangs that were swept to cover her left eye were blown the the right by a cool breeze, which uncovered her left eye. She was missing an eye just like he was. It was consumed by the Tokoyami, which means she was exposed to the Ginko — A Mushi that Ginko named himself after since he couldn't remember his own name after being swallowed by the Tokoyami — which explains her hair and eyes. The girl gave Ginko a shy nod.

"O-Of course," the girl whispered softly, putting her violin away in the case. She closed it up and picked the case up gingerly.

Ginko watched the girl. _A shy one isn't she?_ he thought.

"F-Follow me," she stood and began walking. He followed behind her.

They walked in silence to a traditional-style Japanese house in the farthest reaches of the village. When they got there, she picked up a calico cat from the deck after taking off her shoes and carried her inside.

"I hope you're not allergic to cats," she whispered. "This is my kitty, Callie. She keeps me company since I'm alone. Well, alone in a sense. For the most part, I'm really not alone because of the Mushi that live here."

Ginko looked around after taking his shoes off and he walked inside.

"I can see that and no, I'm not allergic to cats."

She looked over her shoulder after putting Callie down.

"You can see them too?"

"Of course I can."

"Oh, phew. I was worried for a moment." She sighed. "No one believes me when I tell them what I see."

Ginko nodded.

"Not many people do. Only a few can see the Mushi, uhmm.."

"Amaterasu," the girl said.

"Amaterasu," Ginko repeated to finish his sentence.

She looked down.

"So, where are your parents, if I may ask?" Ginko asked.

There was a long silence. Amaterasu had a solemn face expression on her face.

"You don't know?"

"No... They're dead. As I said earlier, Callie is the only thing here that can keep me company," Amaterasu said.

Ginko nodded.

"I see..."

He looked around and Amaterasu pulled out some rice and poured it into a steamer to cook it.

"Are you hungry at all?" Amaterasu asked.

Ginko nodded.

"Some food would be great," he said.

The little girl nodded and sneezed into her elbow and sniffled.

"Damn weather," she grumbled as she went to reheat some steak she'd made the other night. "Alright. I hope you don't mind reheated steak. I have to save what I can and eat it the next day because I don't get much money, seeing as how I'm only thirteen. That's why you saw me out there playing my violin. I have to play and get paid a little something. Even ¥10 is helpful."

"How much do you usually get by playing and singing?" Ginko asked.

"About ¥300, depending on the day. Some, if they pity me enough, offer to buy me lunch, which I usually take the offer since I dislike cooking and I have a favorite restaurant here that I can't go to very often because of that. When the villagers get paid, they pay me a lot more since I'm a kid and I have to fend for myself."

Ginko nodded.

Amaterasu sighed softly and sneezed again. "Gosh, I hate when the weather begins to shift so suddenly like this. I get the cold every time it happens."

She sniffled.

"Yuck..." She shook her head. Ginko nodded.

Amaterasu thought for a moment before the microwave beeped. She pulled the leftover steak out and sat it down, then pulled out two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks. Ginko pulled down an Un from the corner of the kitchen.

"You let the Un live here?"

"That's what those snail-like Mushi are called? The Un?" She began putting the steak in the bowls. "Yeah, and they usually are nice and they haven't tried to live in my ears yet." Amaterasu looked at Ginko. "I've heard they'll go into your ears and eat the sound, but I never caught what they were called."

Ginko frowned a bit. She had all kinds of Mushi here that usually wouldn't live in a place like this. She was a mushi magnet like he was.

"You probably shouldn't do this, live in one place for so long," he suggested. "You're a Mushi magnet like I am."

Amaterasu took the bowls over to the table.

"I don't know," she said, setting one bowl down in front of Ginko. "Traveling places alone? I couldn't do it... What would become of Callie? I can't take her with me..."

Ginko didn't know. He'd forgotten about the quiet little kitten.

"Don't you have any friends?" he asked.

"No sir...," Amaterasu sighed softly. "None of the kids want to play with me or be my friend because I'm so... different."

Ginko frowned and unconsciously nodded while the girl sat down.

"I see... Well then... Y'know, I think I might know someone who can help with that."

The girl nodded. "Perhaps you can tell me later... I need to figure out my plans first..."

She looked up as she began eating.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get your name," Amaterasu said as they began to eat.

"I'm Ginko, the Mushi master," Ginko said.

"Gin...ko..." She thought for a moment. "Like the Mushi that did this to me?"

"Yeah. How did you remember that?"

"I went back to try and study them, but someone told me to not go near them and explained it to me. Another Mushi master? Prolly... I think his name was... Doctor Adashino? I think that's what it was..."

_Dammit Adashino..._, thought Ginko bitterly. Amaterasu took interest in the slight wince the mushi master gave to the mention of Adashino's name.

"Do... you know him?" she asked.

Ginko nodded. "Yes. I sometimes go to him to sell some of my stuff to him... And that was the guy I was going to suggest for you to give your cat to. He'll keep her safe..."

"Oh."

Amaterasu looked down.

"If you want, after this oncoming storm, I can take you to Doctor Adashino..."

Amaterasu nodded and swallowed her steak.

"That would be cool...," she said. "And...Ginko..."

Amaterasu bit her lip. "Would you... Would you let me become your...apprentice? Like, teach me about the Mushi and stuff? I kinda want to be a Mushi master, but ever since I moved here, I haven't met another Mushi master. The last one I saw was in a village I was passing by, which is where I heard about the Ah and the Un, but since then... I haven't met another Mushi master since..."

Ginko thought for a moment, then offered a smug smile.

"Of course I can," he said. "We can start tomorrow. I have a feeling that storm will be going for a little while more than five minutes..."

Amaterasu nodded. "A few days, in fact. Its a typhoon. The last one of the year too." She looked down a bit, holding a piece of steak up to her lips. "I'm also kinda into weather, so don't mind me..."

Ginko nodded a bit.

"I see."

Amaterasu finished her steak as the winds began to pick up.

"I should go close those doors..." she said, standing up. "I'll be right back." She bowed to Ginko and walked off to close the doors that led outside. She tugged the door and took a few moments for her to close the door. After a few moments, she then dashed over to the other door and closed it quickly. _Living on her own, it must be difficult for her_, Ginko thought as he watched her walking back.

"Oh goodness...," she whispered. "I hope the roof doesn't spring a leak again..."

Ginko looked at her seriously — "If you need any help, I think I might have something that can fix a leak..."

Amaterasu shook her head.

"I don't need help, I don't think... Besides, it wasn't so big last time but I still had to put a bucket under it. It was in here, but where is the question..."

The Mushi master looked up at the ceiling and then back at the girl.

"Alright... If you say so."

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While they were asleep, the rain pounded against the house and the wind whipped the tree branches outside around. Callie slept on Ginko for some unknown reason. Amaterasu woke up suddenly to the sound of water dripping, and so did Ginko. The small girl pushed herself to sit up on her knees and she snatched her flashlight from her desk and turned it on. The Mushi master sat up when the girl stood up and dashed off.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked tiredly.

"I think I hear a leak!" she rasped in a hoarse voice. That wasn't there before... She thought, _What? Why does my voice sound so weird?_

Ginko caught the sound of her voice. _Her voice, its more raspy than it was before she went to bed... That doesn't sound good,_ he thought. _Whatever she caught, its affecting her voice._

He stood up after he coaxed Callie off of him and he followed her out to the kitchen. Amaterasu shined her flashlight up at the ceiling and saw a leak.

"There!"

The Mushi master looked. Water was pouring from the ceiling. Judging from how fast it was pouring, there wasn't much he could do to save it.

"There isn't much I can do about that...," he sighed softly. "Will we be safe in your room until this is over?"

Amaterasu took the trash bag out of her trashcan and sat it down against the wall, tying it up before she took the trashcan and put it under the leak.

"We might," she said, looking up. "My room is a few inches higher than the floor so we should be fine. But to get out... Well, we'll have to see."

Ginko nodded.

"Well... Lets go back to my room and go back to sleep..." Amaterasu yawned and walked back to her room and the Mushi master followed her. Before she got into her room, she began coughing and it took a few moments for her to catch her breath. She clutched the door tightly and Ginko put his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked in a soft voice.

Stubbornly, the girl nodded as she let go of the door. "I'll be fine..."

She walked into the room and laid down on her bed. Ginko did the same thing.

"Just let me know if you're not okay," he said. Amaterasu nodded.

"Right..." she said, pulling her blanket over her body and laying her head down on the pillow. Ginko laid down and closed his eyes.

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The next morning, Ginko went out to use the bathroom, and when he opened the door, he looked around. The house wasn't flooded; that was a good sign. He stepped out and headed for the bathroom. The sound of Ginko moving around and opening the door had woken Amaterasu. For a few moments, she laid in her futon, hoping she could fall asleep again. No such luck. So, she gave up and rose to her feet tiredly. _Time to make breakfast I am guessing..., _she thought bitterly.

"C'mon Callie," she murmured to the calico. "Lets go make breakfast..."

Together, the two headed out of the room and headed for the kitchen. Amaterasu walked straight to the trashcan, which was filled to almost its brim with rainwater.

"Goodness gracious...," she muttered. "That is one bad leak if most of the can is full..."

She walked over to the backdoor and opened it. The rain eased a bit, so she left the door open as she went to grab the trashcan to dump it. The girl grabbed the can by its rim, but once she tried to lift it, there was no way in hell she would be able to lift it.

"Oh gosh..." She whipped her head around, wondering where Ginko was. He must've gone to the bathroom. Sighing, she gave up and began making two bowls of miso. She kept a close ear out for Ginko's footsteps, and once she heard them, she looked over her shoulder.

"Ginko?" she asked, her voice hoarse still. It was quiet too, and Ginko didn't hear it. But he could hear the sound of water boiling, so he headed straight into the kitchen.

"Amaterasu?" he asked.

"Ginko," she whispered, pointing to the trashcan. "Can you dump that outside please? I'm so weak... I can't do it myself..."

The Mushi master nodded.

"Of course," he said, picking up the trashcan and taking it over to the door. Carefully, he dumped the can out in the backyard (though it was not really a backyard in Amaterasu's mind) and took it back over to the place where it was originally and he closed the door. "I thought you said it was a typhoon?"

"It was...," she said. "Perhaps it just... wasn't as bad as it originally was supposed to be..."

"If it doesn't rain anymore today, then we can get started and head to the fishing village that Doctor Adashino lives. Alright? I'll still teach you about the Mushi, so don't worry."

Amaterasu nodded.

"Alright, that's fine I guess."

Ginko smiled a bit and watched as the girl fixed the soup. Today, out of all days, seemed like a good day to her.


End file.
